This year’s event will be a relaxed outdoor pitch-in under a tent at the lush Brown County homestead of IFA Member Susan Clearwater. With music by Brown County bluegrass band Hamilton Creek and beer by Bloomington Brewing Company.

The main courses (generously donated) are barbecue by The Butcher’s Block and a vegetarian cajun dish by Yats. Please bring a veggie, salad, bread, side dish or dessert to share (homemade or store-bought).

The highlight of the night will be remarks by Joan Maloof, Ph.D., founder of the Old-Growth Forest Network. The Maryland-based group’s mission is to preserve, protect and promote the country’s few remaining stands of old-growth forest.

Dr. Maloof is the author of Nature’s Temples, which compares the lifeforms in an ancient, undisturbed forest to those in a managed forest. Dr. Maloof has closely followed IFA’s work, especially the campaign to save Crown Hill North Woods. She also submitted testimony in support of Senate Bill 420, the piece of legislation that protects large tracts of old forest within Indiana’s state forest system.